Week 6 – Scene Design 3

Individual Progress:

1. Outdoor Scene 1 (Fantasy World):
   1. Added displacement maps: To achieve a more realistic effect, I applied displacement maps to the tree leaves and trunks, creating a textured surface. The following image shows the nodes used for displacement maps.
   2. Added cloud particle effects: Using the fluid particles in Maya’s FX menu, I selected the cloud effect and adjusted parameters such as density, resolution, and color. The cloud particles have built-in animation, which is advantageous for our scene as we don’t need to create additional animation specifically for the clouds. Adding this effect was intended to create a dreamy and ethereal atmosphere, aligning with our vision for the scene.
   3. Added flower and grass models: Using brush strokes in Maya’s asset library, I painted flowers and grass and converted them into polygons using the Paint Effects to Polygon conversion. I also adjusted the roughness and reflectance in the material settings. The 2D concept depicted some flowers and grass in the enchanted world, so I added these elements to enhance the scene’s authenticity.
   4. Obtained the A-image: I made some simple camera parameter adjustments. First, I enabled the display of object information to determine the camera’s position relative to the objects. Then, I set the focal length and range of focus in the Arnold settings. This allowed me to blur certain objects, such as leaves, to maintain overall visual harmony.
   5. Added flower cluster decorations: Similar to the leaves, the flower clusters were created using planes. I obtained a stylized flower cluster material in Photoshop, consisting of a colored image and a black-and-white image. The colored image served as the base color for the planes, while the black-and-white image acted as an opacity mask, hiding the white parts of the colored image. The black-and-white mask was applied to the geometry’s opacity channel, resulting in the desired effect. We consider this a new technique for representing 3D scenes, inspired by the effect of hairpieces, and applied it to create stacked foliage.
   6. Added lighting effects: Various lighting effects were added. Firstly, for the water reflections, Jiaruo created water effects, but encountered a problem where the water did not have an independent color after adding the base color. Therefore, we created a separate blue light for the water. Secondly, we added side lighting near the trees and atmospheric lighting for the entire scene. Lastly, to achieve the dream-like effect, we planned to add glowing orbs around the trees. However, we need to consider the impact on rendering speed, so we will only add the necessary lights from a resource-saving perspective.
   7. Overall, we are satisfied with the results as they align with our expectations based on the 2D concept and create a dreamy atmosphere.

1. Outdoor Scene 2 (Real World):
   1. Added planet texture, lighting effects, and star models: In the story’s conclusion, the protagonist chases after a green planet. To capture the mystery and longing associated with the distant planet, I added a green planet texture and applied mesh light effects. Additionally, I incorporated star models into the scene.
   2. Camera focus adjustment: Similar to the previous scene, I adjusted the camera’s focal length to achieve the desired visual effect.
   3. Rendered three images: I rendered three images, one with stars in the sky, one without stars, and different textures for the moon. After discussing with the team, we leaned towards the night sky without stars and a moon texture that exudes a hazy atmosphere.

Progress of Other Team Members:

Yuhan Lin: This week, Lin completed the integration and import of scene resources in Maya. They added self-illumination and lighting, and the overall presentation looks nices.

Jiaruo Zhang: Jiaruo worked on character weighting this week, which will take about two to three weeks to complete.

Next Steps:

1. Finalize the Storyboard:
   • Team members will act out character animations for the storyboard, including determining camera angles, character movements, expressions, and dialogue or action language.
   • Consider the relationship between the two characters in the animation: supervisor and supervised, friendly brothers, strict parental figure, etc.
   • Through discussions with Michael, we realized that the storyboard lacks some specific details for further exploration, making it difficult to proceed to the animation stage. To achieve better consensus within the team, we have decided to act out the animation ourselves to clarify how the animation should be.

1. Integrate Scene Resources:
   • Organize scene resources, categorizing them into two scenes and character files.
   • Set up lighting within the scenes.